Wife won’t be charged in stabbing death

Court records indicate marriage had history of domestic violence

A Billings woman arrested this weekend for the stabbing death of
her husband will not be charged, authorities said Monday.

Daisy Rae Morast was released Monday afternoon from the
Yellowstone County Detention Facility, where she had been held
since early Saturday, when police were called at about 1:40 a.m. to
a house at 1129 N. 24th St.

Officers found Jason Morast, 27, with several stab wounds. He
died while medical crews were working on him. Daisy Morast, 24, was
taken to a Billings hospital for treatment and was arrested later
Saturday on suspicion of deliberate homicide. She was released from
the county jail at about 4 p.m. Monday.

The decision to release Morast was made after a review of the
evidence showed that she had “a substantial claim of justifiable
use of force,” said police Sgt. Kevin Iffland.

Calls made to 911 related to the incident early Saturday were
released to The Gazette on Monday. In the calls, Daisy Morast is
often frantic and screaming.

The first 911 call related to the homicide came in at 1:03 a.m.
from Jason Morast’s sister. She said her brother kept calling and
threatening to shoot her boyfriend, who was with her at her home on
Cambridge Drive. The woman said her boyfriend answered one of the
calls from Jason.

“It was (Jason) screaming in the phone about ‘how are you going
to leave a message on my wife’s mail or voice mail,’ screaming in
the phone, ‘I’m going to shoot you, I’m going to come shoot you,’ ”
she told the dispatcher.

Daisy Morast called 911 about 35 minutes later. Hysterical, she
asked for help and told the dispatcher, “My husband is trying to
kill me.”

She said that her face was swollen. After the dispatcher asked
repeatedly where her husband was at that time, she finally
answered, “Here, I stabbed him.”

After asking for help again, Daisy Morast then hung up.

A dispatcher called back repeatedly, and Daisy Morast became
more and more frantic, screaming, “we’re losing him,” and “he’s
dying ... he’s dead.”

Court records show that the couple, who have three young
children, had a tumultuous marriage. Daisy Morast had filed three
temporary orders of protection against her husband in Justice Court
in the past 18 months.

The first temporary order of protection was issued on June 9,
2008, by Judge Pedro Hernandez. The order prohibited Jason Morast
from “committing further acts of abuse or threats of abuse,” and
required that he stay at least 1,000 feet away from his wife, her
home, her workplace, her vehicle and the children’s school or day
care.

“We are married,” Daisy Morast wrote in the application for the
restraining order. “I had found out he had an affair with my
cousin, and he keeps coming over to my house yelling ... very
verbally abusive and keeps calling the cell phone. I do not feel
safe when he comes over. The last fight I remember he told me he
was going to kill me and was beating me. I was taken to Deaconess
Hospital. He is a very abusive man.”

A hearing was set on June 30 to consider extending the
protection order, but on June 13 Daisy Morast withdrew the
petition. On a court document, Daisy Morast checked boxes
indicating that she was no longer in danger from her husband and
that the couple was reconciling. She also wrote, “I am moving out
of state and letting Jason have the kids for now.”

On Feb. 19, Daisy Morast was issued a second temporary order of
protection against her husband. In the application for the order,
she wrote that on Feb. 13 her husband came into the Wild West bar
and began yelling at her. Daisy Morast said she left the bar, and
the next day her husband “broke into my house about noon and began
arguing with me.” Jason Morast refused to leave, she said, and he
continued to call her when she went to work.

“I just want him to leave us alone,” she wrote. “He will argue
with me in front of the kids and I don’t want them around his
emotional abuse to them.”

A hearing was set for March 9 to consider extending the
temporary order, but Judge Larry Herman dismissed the case when
neither Daisy Morast nor Jason Morast showed up at the hearing.

On Nov. 9, a similar dismissal was ordered in the third case
involving the couple. Daisy Morast had been issued a temporary
order of protection on Oct. 21. She said in the application that
she had a restraining order against him before and didn’t want him
contacting her. She complained that his mother was leaving
“horrible” and harassing telephone messages, and that Jason Morast
came to her house while she had friends visiting.

Daisy Morast complained that she called police but that “they
didn’t do anything even (though) there is a no-contact order in
place.” She said her husband called state Department of Family
Services “making up lies about me because of my profession.”

Daisy Morast listed her place of work on the court document as
Taco Bell and “Shotgun,” apparently referring to the strip club
Shotgun Willie’s.

District Court records show that Jason Morast had no felony
convictions. Billings Municipal Court records indicate he was
charged with a misdemeanor violation of an order of protection last
year. The charge was later dismissed by prosecutors.

Jason Morast was charged in August 2003 with misdemeanor partner
or family member assault, but that charge was also dismissed, city
court records show. He had other misdemeanor cases in city court
involving drug possession, disorderly conduct and obstructing a
peace officer, but no domestic-violence convictions.

In May, Jason Morast was ordered to pay his wife $117 a month in
child support for the couple’s three children. He was also ordered
to pay $234 for March and April. It was unclear from court records
what led to the child support order.